Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), will be in Haiti from October 1 to 3 2012.

Tuesday, 2 October, the Secretary-General and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pierre-Richard Casimir, will sign a Headquarter Agreement, between the Republic of Haiti and International IDEA. The next day, Vidar Helgesen will meet with the President Michel Martelly.

Founded in 1995, IDEA has 27 Member States and its objective is to promote in the world, the strengthening of institutions and the democratic processes, as well as a democracy more sustainable, more effective and legitimate. IDEA International, whose headquarter is in Stockholm [Sweden], opened in January 2012 an office in Haiti to support the process of transition and of democratic consolidation. The work of IDEA-Haiti mainly focuses on five main areas of expertise of the Institute : strengthening of political parties, major players in any democracy; support to the Haitian Parliament; promoting women's political participation, particularly through the mechanism of quota; support for electoral processes, in particular through capacity building of electoral institutions and the realization of a participatory assessment of the state of democracy in Haiti.

HL/ HaitiLibre